Usyk's double success, Maguchikh's record, and the stunning Harlan: 24 major sporting events of 2024

OBOZ.UA recalls 24 major events of this year in Ukrainian and world sports. What was exciting. The things that made us sad. The things that made us proud and the things where we felt elated. In this text, we will briefly go through the key events of 2024 and discuss why they are etched in our memory.

Usyk's double victory

The most high-profile event in world boxing was Usyk's double triumph. The sparring match against Tyson Fury, which had been planned for more than two years, finally took place in 2024, even with a rematch. In May, Usyk became the first absolute heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis, and in the second fight this month, the Ukrainian defeated the Briton on points and defended his belts in class. A nice bonus of the second fight was the undercard: three Ukrainians fought their fights - Bogachuk, Lapin and Novitsky all left the ring victorious. Oleksandr was so convincing that some athletes hinted at Fury's clumsiness and the end of his career. But Usyk enters 2025 undefeated.

The new Champions League

One of the few events that was heavily criticized, but now many have fallen in love with it. The league stage of the Champions League is the same transformation from UEFA that allowed small clubs to cling to elite European cups, and the giants have to play all the matches, not just play a number. Each point now affects the position in the table, and each goal can lift you from the brink to the direct exit zone. The ambiguity has made the competition more interesting and colorful, and Real Madrid, Man City, and PSG have shown that we will have something to watch until the last round. Although it will likely not include any Ukrainian clubs, the new Champions League is already looking good at this stage. And this is one of the main events of the year in football.

Sensational winners of the 23/24 European Cups

This year's European football cups brought us three winners with their own records. Real Madrid won the 15th Champions League, updating its own record for the number of ears for one team. "Atalanta, led by Gasperini, won the Europa League, defeating undefeated Bayer Leverkusen, the first European trophy in Bergamo's history. Greece also had an interesting year: Olympiacos won the Conference League, bringing the international cup to this country for the first time. Such a simple moment that made the fans of three clubs not only proud, but also excited about the result.

Kichenok wins the US Open doubles

In a pair with Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok won the US Open! In the final, they did not give a single chance to the French and Chinese, the former leaders of the doubles ranking. The beauty is that our tennis player reached the doubles final of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, but lost. A little time passed, and the emotions were repaid. Now, in New York, the pair of a Ukrainian and a Latvian has become a real model: 5 wins in a row without defeat in games and 2:0 in the final to raise the coveted trophy above their heads.

Invincible Spain

This year, a sensation happened at the Euros: Spain defeated England 2-1 and set a tournament record by winning all (!) matches. At the same time, they also updated several records. But Furia Roja was not the only one to light up the European Championship: in 2024, their women's national team took home the gold medals of the League of Nations, the Spaniards also won the Olympic football competition (5:3 over France), and the women mocked the same French in 3x3 basketball, beating them in the final. A fantastic year for the Iberians.

The 2024 Olympics

A huge sports forum where we were proud of the athletes. Yes, not all of them showed their best, but there was plenty to watch. These are Rotan football players, fencers, athletes and fighters. Despite a generally weak performance (12 medals of various kinds), Ukraine showed its best result at the Games since London 2012. And there were so many memorable situations: the Turkish shooter, the swimming cap in the pool, Maguchikh's dream... The Paralympic team also performed incredibly well - 140 athletes won 82 medals (22 of them gold). This brought them seventh place in the medal standings.

Shevchenko becomes head of the Ukrainian Football Association

In January 2024, the Ukrainian Football Association received a new leader - ex-footballer Andriy Shevchenko took the helm. In almost a year of work, the UAF head has held many meetings with the public, traveled to the regions, and even prevented the return of Russians to the sport. Shevchenko's first year was mostly good, helped by the appointment of Monzul to the executive committee. On the other hand, many of the reforms he promised are stalled. Also, from time to time there are questions about the unrealistic trust in Rebrov, regardless of the results.

Ukraine's national soccer team wins promotion to the League of Nations

This news goes hand in hand with the previous one, as it directly concerns Rebrov. The extremely difficult year of the national team overshadowed the impression of the strong-willed qualification for Euro 24, as Ukraine failed in the competition itself. Then there was a chance to rehabilitate with the League of Nations games - but everything turned out so-so there, too. The team barely made it to the second place in one of the toughest qualifying groups. Now we are facing a double confrontation with Belgium: the national team must prove that it has matured and worked through the mistakes of the clumsy 24-year-old.

Mudryk's doping

The most confusing story of the year in Ukrainian and European football is the meldonium case of Mykhailo Mudryk. All sorts of versions were put forward as to how the winger and doping intersected: doctors in the national team, doctors from London, revenge, even cows were brought in. We looked into this story and how long the investigation could last. But it is clear that the situation is tense around the B sample: if it also confirms doping, then both the fantastic Chelsea and the crisis-ridden Ukrainian national team will be in trouble without Mudryk.

Hockey Ukraine has been promoted

Hockey Ukraine returns to the Second Division! For the first time since 2016, the national team managed to qualify for the IA stage with maximum points, beating all the teams in the group. The 4:1 victory over the Lithuanians, the main competitors for the only place in the rankings, was especially impressive. Now, the yellow and blues will play at the World Hockey Championship. The opponents have not yet been determined, but Hristic will still have a chance to test his strength at a friendly tournament in the winter.

Bronze medal for the futsal team

After a terrible Euro, we enjoyed the futsal players to the fullest in the fall. With each game, the players' confidence grew more and more, along with the fact that they were more competitive than other teams. We lost only to Argentina and Brazil; Danylo Abakshyn became the second scorer of the Futsal Euro; the team was eliminated in the semifinals, but in the bronze medal match, they mocked the French. The advantage was overwhelming: with the score 7-1, we even scored several times from our own half.

BC Dnipro won its first real championship in the Super League

The Basketball Super League has a new champion: "Dnipro won the second Ukrainian trophy in 4 years. In fact, this is their first well-deserved trophy, as in the 19/20 season the club won the covid season for the current lead, when the draw was simply stopped. In the 23/24 season, Koval's team lost only 1(!) match, ensuring complete dominance in the league. It was also their first Golden Double: in the spring, they beat Prometheus 65-64 in the Cup. This season, the team continues to keep up the pace and is undefeated again. Next , Dnipro's players will help the national basketball team make it to EuroBasket.

New world chess champion

The sensation of December is a new world champion. Gukesh Dommaraju of India defeated Ding Lizhen of China. Their fight was another legendary competition of the year, as the fate of the title was decided in the last game! The 55th move was a failure for Lizhen, and the Indian took advantage of the mistake to beat him with black pieces. After that, 18-year-old Gukesh became the youngest world chess champion.

Klopp leaves Liverpool

The majestic saga in Liverpool has come to an end - Jurgen Klopp has left the coaching bridge. Having won all possible competitions in 8 years (including the Premier League, the Champions League, and the Super Bowl), he left his second best project on a wave of success. But Klopp was not out of work for long: tomorrow, January 1, 2025, the ex-coach will become the head of the football department in the Red Bull system. There, he will be in charge of coaching, transfers, philosophy, and scouting for all the brand's teams. Many people said that Klopp and Guardiola were interconnected and that things would be different in England now. It seems that Pep is really sad if Manchester City is having such a bad season. But the new Merseyside coach Slot has successfully led the players trained by the German and is leading them to victory in two major tournaments at once.

Bayer's unbeaten streak

Quite unexpectedly, Bayer Leverkusen under Alonso's leadership became the best team in Germany, posting an incredible unbeaten streak! The miracle spread to all tournaments: 51 matches in a row with a lot of saves in the last minutes. This is how the pharmacists won the first Bundesliga title in the club's 120-year history, pushing the hegemon Bayern far behind. The miracle ended in the Europa League final, when Atalanta flattened 0-3 the players who were already tired of success. But the series itself went down in history.

Harlan's double podium

Sabre fencer Olga Harlan became a real heroine of the Olympics. First, she took individual bronze in the individual competition, and then won the tournament as part of the team! The final against the Republic of Korea was extremely exhausting and tense, with the lead constantly changing hands. It is symbolic that it was the captain who came out last and first equalized the score, and then snatched the victory of our four with three accurate shots. It was the first gold medal for Ukraine at that time. Taking into account the bronze medal in the individual tournament, Harlan has six medals - in 2024, she became the sole record holder of the Olympics in the history of Ukraine.

Rodri wins the Golden Ball

The event that was called the biggest justice of the year. Rodri won the 2024 Ballon d'Or, adding to Spain's already fantastic year. The ceremony was accompanied by a boycott from Real Madrid, the absence of many stars, and an injury to the winner. But even on crutches, the Manchester City player still arrived at the award ceremony, showing his indomitable spirit. This award was called well-deserved, given the previous ZM presentations and the strange prediction of victory for Vinicius. There was also a double bonus for the Ukrainian audience - Dovbyk in the list of the world's best footballers and Lunin in the top three goalkeepers on the planet.

Dovbyk won the Piccioli

But Dovbyk did find his reward. In just one year in La Liga, the forward managed to shoot more goals than anyone else, and he won the Piccioli award as the league's top scorer (24 goals). Artem conquered Spain from the very first time, helping Girona make their Champions League debut. Dovbyk immediately became the number one object of interest for several big clubs and joined Roma: now he is trying to raise a promising project to European competitions.

Berinchyk's championship title

The day after Usyk's victory in May, Ukrainian boxing won another title - Denys Berinchyk won the world boxing title for the first time. He became the third reigning world champion from Ukraine. The boxer defeated the Mexican on points, taking the WBO title. The 36-year-old athlete also remains undefeated. He also became the twelfth Ukrainian to hold the world title.

Ukraine's victory in the Euroleague volleyball

After seven years, the men's Euroleague Gold Cup returns to Ukraine. The volleyball team defeated the Croats 3-1. Under the new coach Raul Lozano, we finished third in the group. The bookmakers had no expectations for the Ukrainians because of such a low qualifying result, but in the final, our athletes stopped Croatia, which had not lost a single match in the Euroleague season. They also showed their willpower when they overcame a 10-point deficit in the third set and gained such an important advantage. And then - the second victory in history.

Maguchikh's record

2 meters 10 centimeters. A record for jumping next to the Ukrainian flag. Yaroslava Maguchikh was the first in the world to reach this height! At the Diamond League in Paris, she set two new records at once: first, she updated her own maximum of 2.07, and then, on her first attempt, she jumped to a height of 2.10! The Dnipro resident broke the world record in women's jumping, which was set in 1987! And Maguchikh is only 23 years old.

Duplantis' leaping centimeters

At the same time, the planet learned about the pole vaulting star. Armand Duplantis attracted attention with a new world record, which he updated to the applause of the Stade de France - 6 meters 25 centimeters. In fact, heights over 6.17 are jokingly called Duplantis' centimeters. Only he updates the world record by one centimeter each time, and all these marks are inscribed with his name. The new figure of 6.26 was set after the Olympics. And again, it was the Swede who did it.

The youth team reached the Euros

Another set of emotions this fall - Ukraine U-21 has overcome the two-year qualification for Euro 2025. And although the team lost the last two games, 8 uncompromising victories before that gave a margin for experimentation and ensured entry into the tournament through additional conditions. As many as 14 people scored, and Voloshyn made 4+3 in 10 matches. This is the first time that the youth team has reached the final stage of the tournament for the second time in a row. The teams of the Netherlands, Finland and Denmark are waiting for us at Euro 25. The group stage matches will take place in Eastern Slovakia.

Tyson vs. Paul fight

Let's finish our list with the most high-profile exhibition fight of the year: boxer Tyson vs. amateur Paul. It has never happened before that a professional fighter and a boxing legend were challenged to a fight by a blogger. The meeting of the old and new schools in Texas was held in a staged format; a young and daring athlete with only ten fights won the heavyweight by unanimous decision of the judges. This case is unique for world sports and definitely sets something new when the number of fights between amateurs and professionals increases. And they will be available not only on American streaming platforms.